Although Southern Unionists came from all classes, most differed socially, culturally, and economically from the region's dominant pre-war planter class. Only 62,000 commissions and enlistments in total were issued for the Regular Army during the war as most new personnel preferred Volunteer service. Officer appointments depended on the commission grade and whether it was in the Regular or Volunteer forces. [124] Undoubtedly this was due in part to the requirement that quartermasters file a bond worth $10,000 that made them personally liable for their supplies. However, there was no statutory basis for their assignment, and it wasn't until February 1865 when Congress bowed to pressure and provided for officers serving in these capacities to receive rank, pay and emoluments appropriate to their responsibilities. United States: University of North Carolina Press. p. 72-73, Reid,R.M.(2014). It was the smallest of the four supply departments, and even as the army grew to encompass over a million soldiers the department itself barely expanded in size. [122][123], The principal depots of the QMD were located in Cincinnati, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Quincy, Illinois, Steubenville, Ohio, St. Louis, and Washington, DC,[35] with other major depots located in Baltimore, Chicago, Louisville, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Casualties were estimated as up to 1,000 killed or wounded. [101] In August 1861 Congress authorized the formation of three more companies to be organized the same as Engineer Company A, with all four organized into a single battalion (the US Engineer Battalion, later 1st Engineer Battalion), and the addition of two lieutenant colonels, four majors and six lieutenants to the Corps. Under energetic commanders like Philip Sheridan however the Union cavalry grew into its own and developed tactics unique from their European counterparts. The secession of the Southern states (in chronological order, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and . [108], The chaotic aftermath of the first Battle of Bull Run - no coordination between field hospitals and casualty evacuation, regimental surgeons refusing to treat soldiers from other units, and the few ambulance drivers robbing their charges or fleeing - exemplified the inadequacies of pre-war planning and preparations. As a Southern slave-holding state, Virginia held the state convention to deal with the secession crisis, and voted against secession on April 4, 1861. 7 million Number of Americans lost if 2.5% of the population died in war today. In June 1863, Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North in hopes of relieving pressure on war-torn Virginia, defeating the Union Army of the Potomac on Northern soil, and striking a decisive blow to Northern morale. [95], An office of the Judge Advocate had existed in the US Army since its founding, consisting at the start of the Civil War of a single officer with the rank of major and small civilian clerical staff in Washington. [129], To meet the needs of feeding the rapidly-expanding Union Army, Congress authorized a CS with the rank of captain to be assigned to each brigade in July 1861, and in August 1861 the department was expanded with twelve additional officers, four majors and eight captains. Canada:UBC Press. [124], Of the $1.8 billion spent by the Federal government during the war, over a billion of that was distributed by the Quartermaster Department. [117], A more persistent issue faced by ORDD were efforts by members of Congress, the general public, and even President Lincoln to get them to adopt many new military technologies, particularly breachloading and repeating rifles like the Spencer and Henry rifle. Civil War Years: Canada and the United States. (2005). Congress also gave the surgeon general the authority to hire as many hospital stewards as necessary, and a month later they authorized the addition of six trained apothecaries and druggists as medical storekeepers. Get top headlines from the Union-Tribune in your inbox weekday mornings, including top news . (2006). Societal prejudices saw women as too delicate and the job too unsuitable for women of social rank, particularly at the thought of unmarried women surrounded by thousands of men in close quarters. Using these numbers, 15% of Union soldiers deserted during the war. Much information on Civil War departments can be found in Eicher & Eicher, Civil War High Commands . For self-evident reasons many of these activities were kept secret and any documentation (if it existed) was often destroyed. During the war, some of the department's responsibilities and functions were spun off to new offices while new ones were added. Congress approved in July 1864 the appointment of ten depot commanders to the rank of colonel, while other commanders either received a Volunteer commission or brevet rank of brigadier general for as long as they remained at their depot. . Description The term Southern Unionist, and its variations, incorporate a spectrum of beliefs and actions. However, the PMGB did not live up to expectations under Draper's leadership. Often literally a daughter of one of the regimental officers, these women looked to the soldiers' well-being but also served as their regiment's "mascot" who inspired the men by wearing stylish clothing and enduring the same hardships as them. There were also artificiers on the rolls of the Army's artillery regiments who were responsible for the maintenance of weapons within their regiments. However this number was barely adequate to meet the needs of the army in peacetime, and in May 1861 an additional ten surgeons and twenty assistant surgeons were added to cover the new Regular Army regiments being raised. p. 194-195, Griffith, P. (2001). Alternative estimates place the number of enlistees much lower. [140][141], Irish immigrants were the main participants in the famous "New York Draft riots" of 1863. Many historians estimate the "real" desertion rate in the Union Army as between 912%. [98], The Topographical Engineers numbered forty-five officers before the Civil War. By 1860, the African American or Black population of the United States consisted of four million enslaved and half a million free Blacks. A mob was reportedly repulsed from the offices of the staunchly pro-Union New York Tribune by workers firing two Gatling guns. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Loyalists, or Lincoln's Loyalists. [120], In the aggregate, the PMGB was successful in the enrollment and maintenance of sufficient manpower for the Union Army. As the war continued and the Union grip around southern imports and material production tightened, gray dye also became scarce. By mid-summer 1862, President Abraham Lincoln had the Emancipation Proclamation a document declaring freedom for all slaves in the so-called rebellious statesready to go. United States: J.B. Lippincott & Company. Wikimedia. Black units were led predominantly by white officers, and while more than a hundred Black men were eventually made officers (disregarding those passing as white), none were promoted to a rank higher than major. Prisoners of War Roughly 211,000 Union soldiers were captured; 17,000 were paroled in the field; 30,000, or about 15.5% of those sent to prisoner of war camps, died there. At the start of the war, Simon Cameron served as Secretary of War before being replaced in January 1862 by Edwin Stanton. [111][117], Henry K. Craig was the Chief of Ordnance when the Civil War began, having served in that position since 1851. 26, 2023, 5:16 AM ET (AP) Thousands of North Koreans march in anti-US rallies as country marks Korean War anniversary [103][104], At the start of the Civil War, there was technically no Inspector General's Department, with neither a set of operating practices or centralized direction. The exception to this was when the supplies were destroyed due to natural causes or to prevent them falling into enemy hands, a situation which perversely caused celebration among some quartermasters. However it did meet the challenge of equipping the Union Army with many modern weapons and other materiel. [117], After the war ORDD came under harsh criticisms, particularly over their conservatism in regards to new technology. Examples include Franz Sigel and Michael Corcoran. This graph shows the total number of soldiers who were enlisted in the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War, between 1861 and 1865. However, a dispute between the Signal Corps and the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps over who controlled electrical telegraphy led Secretary Stanton to replace Myer with Maj. William Nicodemus in November of that year. Was the Union army fighting for the north or the south? Women took on many significant roles in the Union Army and were important to its ultimate success on the battlefield. [31] The political appointment and/or election of Volunteer officers was part of a long-standing militia tradition and of a political patronage system common in the United States. in Maggi M. Morehouse and Zoe Trodd, eds., Peter Levine, "Draft evasion in the North during the Civil War, 18631865. Also, a relatively small number of Native Americans (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek) fought for the Confederacy. Colonel Henry L. Scott replaced Mansfield that same month, but when Churchill retired his position was given to Colonel Randolph Marcy, father-in-law to George McClellan, in the same month. Craig received much of the blame for the poor state of affairs at the time, and angered many special interests by resisting the purchase of new and untested weapons in favor of increasing arsenal production and limiting purchases to reputable domestic and international sources. Heat the fat in a skillet over . [108], Added to the relatively small number of Regular Army medical personnel were a further 546 surgeons and assistant surgeons of US Volunteers, appointed by the president to supplement Regular Army personnel in staff positions; another 5,532 civilian doctors employed under contract (mainly in general hospitals) as acting assistant surgeons; a small number of medical officers of the Veteran Reserve Corps; and the thousands of regimental surgeons and assistant surgeons appointed to the Volunteer regiments by their respective state governors. Approximately one hundred southern towns and cities were occupied by Union forces at one time or another during the course of the Civil War. Wiki User 2011-09-22 21:25:03 Study now. One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War began, its echoes are still felt across the United States in lingering divisions between North and South, in debates over the flying of the. [119], The rapid increase in the size of the Army presented a significant challenge to the Pay Department, as the number of soldiers needed to be paid was over fifty times greater than the pre-war size. [98][100], Prior to the war, the Corps of Engineers consisted of just forty-eight officers and a single company of 150 engineer troops. Nevertheless, Congress eventually approved for women to serve as nurses, to which Dorothea Dix - appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses - was responsible for setting hiring guidelines and starting a training program for prospective candidates. A number were seized before or at the war's outbreak, but more were created after fighting began and existing ones were expanded. United Kingdom: Yale University Press. Beyond promoting the surgeon general to brigadier general and adding additional staff, one of the most controversial was the introduction of medical inspectors, as a number of these were appointed by Secretary Stanton for "political" purposes. For brigades and higher echelons of command, an ordnance officer was authorized to serve on the unit's staff with similar responsibilities. However he eventually changed his mind and pressed Congress to authorize the first official Black enlistment system in late 1862, which eventually evolved into the United States Colored Troops. By September 1863, the Southern railroads were in bad shape. [53] NCOs were also responsible for the regimental colors, which helped the unit maintain formation and serve as a rally point for the regiment. The department's senior leadership was unwilling to wholeheartedly embrace this technology without extensive field testing, and worried over delays from retooling manufacturing equipment and other logistical concerns that went with their adoption. These judge advocates were to advise commanders on legal issues, prosecute offenses, and review and maintain the records of courts-martial and other proceedings in the field. Supporting lines were placed behind the main line, on a hill overlooking it if possible but otherwise providing a ready reserve. The poor formed clubs that would buy exemptions for their unlucky members. [16] The actual number of personnel assigned to an army's headquarters could be quite large: at Gettysburg the headquarters of General Meade (excluding engineers, the artillery reserve and the headquarters of each corps) was no less than 3,486 strong. [31] Additionally, Regular general officers outranked Volunteer general officers of the same grade regardless of their date of commission, a feature which could become a subject of contention. Congress eventually determined that each geographical department, army, corps, division and brigade would also be assigned an IG or assistant IG, however these positions were to be filled by Regular or Volunteer officers detailed from line units of the Army or from the other staff departments. In August 1861 the AG was raised to major-general and the strength of the AGD increased to twenty officers, and a year later it was reorganized to constitute the AG, two colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, and thirteen majors. Thereafter he continued to serve in the Corps of Engineers as the senior officer to the Chief Engineer. Each field army headquarters established their own topographical departments under the supervision of engineer officers, which would provide the army with maps necessary for a given campaign. One notable exception was Michigan, which designated Fort Wayne as a training center for both officers and NCOs. Armies South, Armies North. About 25% of the white men who served in the Union Army were foreign-born. Customs of Service for Non-commissioned Officers and Soldiers, as Derived from Law and Regulations, and Practised in the Army of the United States: Being a Handbook for the Rank and File of the Army, Showing what are the Rights and Duties, how to Obtain the Former and Perform the Latter, and Thereby Enabling Them to Seek Promotion and Distinction in the Service of Their Country. [98], The most important role played by the Topographical Engineers, even after their merger with the regular Corps, was providing desperately-needed maps to Army commanders. Gibson, who at eighty-six was the older serving officer in the Army, had been in this position since the department was first created in April 1818 and as such was responsible for establishing its procurement and distribution methods. [110], The principal mission of the Ordnance Department (ORDD) during the Civil War was the development, procurement, storage, distribution and repair of all Army ordnance and ordnance-related equipment such as limbers and caissons and accoutrements. In total, the department purchased over $361 million in foodstuff and miscellaneous subsistence items from July 1, 1861, to June 30, 1865. Approximately 20% of these officersmost of them Southernersresigned, choosing to tie their lives and fortunes to the Army of the Confederacy. [103] During the war, the civilian nature of the Corps' mission was largely suspended and it undertook the role of reconnaissance, construction of defensive works and supplying maps to the Army. Tagged: Soldier, Union In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. However Holt also made many enemies while JAG and was severely criticized for his handling of the trial of President Lincoln's assassins. [130][123], The success of the Subsistence Department in meeting the challenges of the war was noted by Secretary Stanton, who observed in 1865 that no operation conducted by the Union Army failed on account of the department being unable to meet its obligations. 6 of 8 7 of 8 South African Defence Force (SANDF) patrol at a toll station in Durban, South Africa, Friday July 14, 2023. United States: Chicago Review Press. Union cavalry companies and some artillery companies were also authorized a commissary sergeant to perform similar tasks. During his absence, Colonel Charles Thomas served as acting QMG in Washington. Instead there were two Inspector Generals (IGs) with the rank of colonel whose duty was to conduct inspections and investigations to ensure the Army was organized and operating at full readiness, but these were done in an ad-hoc manner at the discretion of the Secretary of War.